Back in 1983, approximately 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the United States. Today, ownership of the news media has been concentrated in the hands of just six incredibly powerful media corporations. These corporate behemoths control most of what we watch, hear and read every single day. They own television networks, cable channels, movie studios, newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, music labels and even many of our favorite websites. Sadly, most Americans don’t even stop to think about who is feeding them the endless hours of news and entertainment that they constantly ingest. Most Americans don’t really seem to care about who owns the media. But they should. The truth is that each of us is deeply influenced by the messages that are constantly being pounded into our heads by the mainstream media. The average American watches 153 hours of television a month. In fact, most Americans begin to feel physically uncomfortable if they go too long without watching or listening to something. Sadly, most Americans have become absolutely addicted to news and entertainment and the ownership of all that news and entertainment that we crave is being concentrated in fewer and fewer hands each year.

The six corporations that collectively control U.S. media today are Time Warner, Walt Disney, Viacom, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., CBS Corporation and NBC Universal. Together, the “big six” absolutely dominate news and entertainment in the United States. But even those areas of the media that the “big six” do not completely control are becoming increasingly concentrated. For example, Clear Channel now owns over 1000 radio stations across the United States. Companies like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are increasingly dominating the Internet.

But it is the “big six” that are the biggest concerns. When you control what Americans watch, hear and read you gain a great deal of control over what they think. They don’t call it “programming” for nothing…

for some reason I can’t follow the link to the actual site. any one else having trouble? Figures…

http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/6P5PBLZIDF2UZGPWPIC7RX4REI Chasing

for some reason I can’t follow the link to the actual site. any one else having trouble? Figures…

dumbsaint

Seems to me that Americans(or anyone else) do control what they watch, hear and read. They simply need to put more effort into it than turning on a box and passively consuming. The news media has been underwhelming(at best) for a while now, if people are still watching it then it’s their choice to tolerate drivel.

Liam_McGonagle

True that.

But there are two unavoidable problems that may have to be solved collectively:
1. The abandonment of shared institutions
2. The commoditization of news

We live in a sick, fragmented economy. Most of us spend our lives rammed into office cubicles, alienated from participation in the most fundamental aspects of our existence. (How many of us ever spent much time watching a cow being milked on television, much less have any prolongued, practical experience of doing it ourselves?)

How far can we rely on our own judgment to know what we need to know?

The vast majority of us are so preoccupied by the quotidian issues of work and family that there’s little spare bandwidth left over for exploration. To the extent that most of us have any curiosity about the world outside our parish at all, we’re gonna focus on how to play the existing game more effectively, not postulate improvements or alternatives.

So, we’re all kind of just thrown up against our own unquestioned biases when we confront the media landscape. Yeah, Disinfonauts may be the exception here, being atypically curious and skeptical.

But the challenges should not be underestimated by anyone. The big corps have tons of marketeers, sociologists, media theorists and psychologists on the payroll 24/7 working to smoke out our deepest, subtlest fears and hopes, and packaging new ways to sell them back to us at a profit.

And the #1 rule is “The Customer Is Always Right.” That’s hardly a recipe for the challenge that Disinfonauts crave.

Anonymous

Seems to me that Americans(or anyone else) do control what they watch, hear and read. They simply need to put more effort into it than turning on a box and passively consuming. The news media has been underwhelming(at best) for a while now, if people are still watching it then it’s their choice to tolerate drivel.

http://voxmagi-necessarywords.blogspot.com/ VoxMagi

Its been a well documented trend…twenty years ago it was an observable phenomenon…which prognosticators used to speculate this eventual result…accurately as it turned out. I guess that means that speculation has a purpose and isn’t unjustified…except by ‘head in the sand’ ostriches attempting to poopoo the darker consequences of apathetic indifference to events.

If this result had been seen as important by more than a just a few on the progressive side of thought, our laws might have shaped a different outcome…but alas…somewhere in the din both parties were bought and paid for, and the tolerance of such collusion and graft that has been bred and programmed into us has left us with this…a world of diminished quality and diminished opportunity for information.

http://voxmagi-necessarywords.blogspot.com/ VoxMagi

Its been a well documented trend…twenty years ago it was an observable phenomenon…which prognosticators used to speculate this eventual result…accurately as it turned out. I guess that means that speculation has a purpose and isn’t unjustified…except by ‘head in the sand’ ostriches attempting to poopoo the darker consequences of apathetic indifference to events.

If this result had been seen as important by more than a just a few on the progressive side of thought, our laws might have shaped a different outcome…but alas…somewhere in the din both parties were bought and paid for, and the tolerance of such collusion and graft that has been bred and programmed into us has left us with this…a world of diminished quality and diminished opportunity for information.

Sigh

It is interesting how this article speaks the truth, which is heart warming, but it does not reveal the full truth – because it doesn’t expose who is guilty: 5 of these 6 monolithic corporations are owned by Jews. Of course, it’s NO coincidence that these media are pro-Zionist. When they’re not busy dumbing down/perverting the population, or spreading disinformation, they will make you copy their virulent anti-gentile point of view, just so you will learn to hate yourself – and it is working too. These Jews turn against their Anglosaxon hosts – against the ethnic majority in the U.S. – and it’s pretty much the same deal all over the Western world.

Sigh

It is interesting how this article speaks the truth, which is heart warming, but it does not reveal the full truth – because it doesn’t expose who is guilty: 5 of these 6 monolithic corporations are owned by Jews. Of course, it’s NO coincidence that these media are pro-Zionist. When they’re not busy dumbing down/perverting the population, or spreading disinformation, they will make you copy their virulent anti-gentile point of view, just so you will learn to hate yourself – and it is working too. These Jews turn against their Anglosaxon hosts – against the ethnic majority in the U.S. – and it’s pretty much the same deal all over the Western world.

Andrew

It was the Catholics who taught me to hate myself, not the Jews.

gondolfin

Almost all chairmen of the boards a WASPs .1 Catholic though. And if you pick the Forbes list, more WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants). I agree on the Zionist part. This of course has nothing to with “ethnisity”

gemmarama

oh fuck off.

Widelynarrow

“5 of these 6 monolithic corporations are owned by Jews”
@Sigh:
Can you provide a source? Aren’t most of these companies public traded and thus it’s not simple to learly identify owners?
I’m interested in some deeper reading on this media ownership issue. Can anyone make a reccomendation?

Andrew

It was the Catholics who taught me to hate myself, not the Jews.

Anonymous

Almost all chairmen of the boards a WASPs .1 Catholic though. And if you pick the Forbes list, more WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants). I agree on the Zionist part. This of course has nothing to with “ethnisity”

The House of Madness

I found this article here yesterday and read it. Today, it shows up in my newsfeed on Facebook, posted by Disinfo. I decided to shared it from my newsfeed to my wall due to the minor coincidence of it showing up like that. So I clicked “share” and up comes the dreaded Captcha phrase window… the phrase it demanded I “utter” before it would release the article to my wall: “ruined future”… true story.
I took a screenshot.

http://disinfo.com/ Majestic

Post the screenshot here!

The House of Madness

I found this article here yesterday and read it. Today, it shows up in my newsfeed on Facebook, posted by Disinfo. I decided to shared it from my newsfeed to my wall due to the minor coincidence of it showing up like that. So I clicked “share” and up comes the dreaded Captcha phrase window… the phrase it demanded I “utter” before it would release the article to my wall: “ruined future”… true story.
I took a screenshot.

gemmarama

oh fuck off.

http://disinfo.com Majestic

Post the screenshot here!

Liam_McGonagle

True that.

But there are two unavoidable problems that may have to be solved collectively:
1. The abandonment of shared institutions
2. The commoditization of news

We live in a sick, fragmented economy. Most of us spend our lives rammed into office cubicles, alienated from participation in the most fundamental aspects of our existence. (How many of us ever spent much time watching a cow being milked on television, much less have any prolongued, practical experience of doing it ourselves?)

How far can we rely on our own judgment to know what we need to know?

The vast majority of us are so preoccupied by the quotidian issues of work and family that there’s little spare bandwidth left over for exploration. To the extent that most of us have any curiosity about the world outside our parish at all, we’re gonna focus on how to play the existing game more effectively, not postulate improvements or alternatives.

So, we’re all kind of just thrown up against our own unquestioned biases when we confront the media landscape. Yeah, Disinfonauts may be the exception here, being atypically curious and skeptical.

But the challenges should not be underestimated by anyone. The big corps have tons of marketeers, sociologists, media theorists and psychologists on the payroll 24/7 working to smoke out our deepest, subtlest fears and hopes, and packaging new ways to sell them back to us at a profit.

And the #1 rule is “The Customer Is Always Right.” That’s hardly a recipe for the challenge that Disinfonauts crave.

WAYOUNT552

GREAT POST, THANKS,disinformation,FOR ALLOWING ME TO SHARE THIS!!!

WAYOUNT552

GREAT POST, THANKS,disinformation,FOR ALLOWING ME TO SHARE THIS!!!

Widelynarrow

“5 of these 6 monolithic corporations are owned by Jews”
@Sigh:
Can you provide a source? Aren’t most of these companies public traded and thus it’s not simple to learly identify owners?
I’m interested in some deeper reading on this media ownership issue. Can anyone make a reccomendation?

FergalR

My God!

No wonder the media is full of climate sceptic propaganda!

Because – you see – global warming/climate change/climate chaos/climate disruption/global deadening is not a confidence trick made up out of whole cloth to concentrate power in the hands of big corporations and the governments they own while turning everyone else on the planet into carbon tax serfs.

Anonymous

My God!

No wonder the media is full of climate sceptic propaganda!

Because – you see – global warming/climate change/climate chaos/climate disruption/global deadening is not a confidence trick made up out of whole cloth to concentrate power in the hands of big corporations and the governments they own while turning everyone else on the planet into carbon tax serfs.